I think that when high temperatures kill pollen, the blossoms carrying that pollen drop off. I suspect different varieties of chiles have different heat tolerances for their pollen, or they may set pollen at different times of day leading some to drop blossoms, others not to. We've had several days over 100° here in SW Idaho, but that temperature is only reached in late afternoon. Nights have been in 60s and 70s, and temp only goes over 95 around 2 to 3 p.m. That leaves over 20 hours a day for pollen to develop and fruit to set before pollen is killed. I have good sets of fruits on chiles and tomatoes (usually no fruit set above 95°). Margaret L Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 11:32:19 -0400 From: "Matt Evans" <tmattevans@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [CH] Blossom Drop on C. pubescens Thanks for all of the advice, folks. As I suspected, it appears that the general consensus is that high heat is the issue. My manzano is in a container, so I might overwinter it, but I have typically gotten excellent first year production from this variety. A couple of other points have been brought up -- 1. Nitrogen -- I agree that excessive N2 will cause blossom drop, but my manzano is getting the same dose as my other potted plants and it is the only one exhibiting this problem. 2. Pollenators -- I have not specifically watched bees and ants pollenate this plant, so I can't comment here....but, again, the other plants seem to be doing fine. Extremely high heat (we hit 108 at the WU station closest to my house last week), opressive humidity (heat index of 118 at same WU station on a different day), and a cool-weather variety seem to be coming after me. I still think it's a bit strange, though, as this variety has done well for me in the past -- but, this is the hottest summer I can remember. Matt